Ask The Experts, Home Staging Business Tips

Hiring For Your Growing Home Staging Business

Posted on by Patrick Furlow
hiring for your staging business

At RESA HQ their team is asked questions from home stagers throughout North America on a daily basis, from where to get training, how to keep up with inventory, where to find clients, the best resources for contracts, and more! For our Ask The Experts Blog series we take some of these questions to experts in our industry to get their advice.

The RESA mission is for home staging to be an industry where high standards are well-established and practiced universally, and by sharing some tips from the experts we hope to help those in the staging industry be the most successful they can be.

A recent question was asked, “Who should I consider hiring for my growing staging business first?”

I am Patrick Furlow, a RESA member who has been in the staging industry since 2018 when I joined Step by Stage Interiors as the President of Operations. Today, I am sharing insight on the topic of hiring for your growing staging business:

There is a ton of reward, happiness, feeling of accomplishment, and success waiting right around the corner if you can do it right.

When starting a home staging business, it can seem like such a daunting task. Where to begin, how to incorporate, where to get inventory, where to store that inventory, how do I get customers, etc etc etc. 
All equally as important as the next…but very doable to someone with limited to basic business knowledge. Over our 11 + years of business and looking back, once we got the ball rolling, who did we hire first and why?

Our suggestion for Hiring…hire what you hate to do first.

Also, what you can’t do by yourself. In our case it was hiring a few reliable movers and a CPA. As a new stager or staging company, before even starting a business you should already have a passion for design, the staging industry, some minimal skill in design/design background, or at least an eye for design and styling. If you don’t…you can go ahead and stop right there. Starting a staging company isn’t easy or for the faint of heart. It takes a ton of hard work, sweat, long days, constant stress, and the ability to navigate multiple mediums (such as business management, inventory management, buying and procuring the right kind/type of inventory/managing people/managing yourself and the list goes on and on).
But…don’t be discouraged. There is a ton of reward, happiness, feeling of accomplishment, and success waiting right around the corner if you can do it right.
A vital lifeline that immediately is needed are muscles and monies. Without either, you’re dead in the water. Hiring a team that can help you prepare, load, stage, and repeat over and over is essential. But, keeping track of your finances, taxes and dollars you earn is also essential. If you happen to be the rare breed that has both left brain and right brain savvy, a CPA can come a little bit later down the road if you can do all the staging and design, along with the spreadsheets, estimates, contracts, invoices, statistics, social media, website and the like that’s part of everyday business.

But, who to hire first? The most simple answer in our experience was the pieces of our team that we needed, couldn’t do without, and hated having to do ourselves. Reliable movers (whether you hire in house or use an outside company). Of course as a stager, you’re always in the trenches. Moving, packing, lifting, loading, arranging…that comes with the territory. Bring in the movers, and you have a functional team. Chin up and wishing everyone successful staging and many happy returns!

Together through the RESA executive team, RESA leadership, and the RESA Board of Directors, and our members, we have built a community of entrepreneurs and professionals that are stronger together. The RESA community supports, uplifts, and encourages one another to continue to grow as an industry. Together, RESA home stagers and affiliates are growing industry awareness and raising expectations.

If you have a question that you would like us to bring to the experts, submit it here. 

Not a RESA® member yet? Click here to learn how to join and about the many benefits RESA® makes available to help advance the home staging industry!
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Patrick Furlow

Patrick grew up in the small town of Poolesville, Maryland. He completed his degree at The Florida Institute of Technology, earning a B.S. in Business Administration. Patrick’s experience and background have been in leadership and management within the education field along with account management in the textile and facility services industry. After growing and developing successful business teams, he took the leap from the corporate lifestyle to join Step By Stage Interiors full time in 2018 as President of Operations and Logistics. He has a knack for detail, organization and efficiency. Patrick enjoys spending time with his family and favorite pug Olive. Yes, he even has a coffee mug with a picture of him and his dog. He’s an avid sports fan and you can often find him cheering for the Baltimore Ravens, UCF Knights, Maryland Terrapins, Tampa Bay Rays/Lightning and his alma mater F.I.T. Panthers. He also enjoys hosting friends and guests at his home and sitting on the porch or back by the pool relaxing.

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